And Your Angels Will Go Free
by kittikat8531
Summary: The land's being overrun with monsters, so they do what they have to do. Now others have to move on. One-shot, complete. Please R&R.


AN: I don't know why my brain keeps supplying a stream of one-shots these days, but at least it's being productive again. This is an odd piece inspired by Peter Bradley Adams' "Angeles". I leave the narrator unnamed until fairly late, but it should be interesting to see if anyone can figure it out beforehand.

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything so interesting.

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Reports had come in from around the world, and while the monsters were small enough, weak enough, that any Senshi on her own could fight them, they were vastly outnumbered. People died in droves, and those who managed to escape fled to the cities, hoping to be safer there, only to be driven further and further. Some made it all the way to the coastal regions until the ocean itself impeded their progress, leaving them with nowhere to turn.

The guardians, seeing no other choice, gathered after placing powerful protections over the last remaining bastions of humankind. In Tokyo, their home and the center of the magical wars for so long, they would have to make one final stand. We all congregated around the radios, the only long-distance communication left, to see what would happen next. It ended up being unnecessary.

Not long after the soldiers joined one another in the center of Juuban Park, that common battleground, the ground began to tremble violently, toppling most people and a number of items. The sturdy ones survived, while anything fragile was smashed to bits. The quake continued for countless agonizing minutes as everyone struggled to free themselves from the hodgepodge of limbs and debris all around. It seemed like the world itself was coming apart at the seams.

Then, suddenly, it was over.

No one knew what to make of it at first. Everything seemed normal until alerts came through the radios saying that this coastal city or another was an island now, completely cut off from the mainland as it burned, plagued by thunderstorms and other violent acts that could be traced back to one of the Senshi's respective powers. When those too came to an end, a cool rain fell to put out what remained, and a blanket of green crept back across the land in a great arc until areas that had been plagued with monsters were now so perfect they resembled nothing less than utopia.

Once all the damages were tallied, there were twenty remaining cities, each a great island with the countryside separated by a truly stupendous channel. The adventurous few willing to risk a monster attack returned to say that it was as if the land itself was as pure and new as it had been before the advent of man and machine. People started to leave the cities in search of food and other needed supplies.

This glorious new beginning was not free. Tokyo, like the others, had become a land unto itself, and the people who had been appointed as police and other needed peacekeepers by the interim government started the search for the missing warriors. They were found, and it was a dark day indeed when the world was informed that their saviors had paid for their fresh start with their lives. The nine women and one man were lying in a circle, dead and utterly beautiful in their power and defiance.

While the people of Tokyo had long since adjusted to the presence of the Sailor Senshi and tried to figure out who they were, no one had yet succeeded. That meant there were families out there wondering what happened to their child, their sibling, their spouse, hoping they hadn't been victims of the monsters. If no one could determine a way past the magic that hid their identities from the world, they would wait forever.

Eventually, after locating the surviving people that had been noted as having close and prolonged contact with the warriors, someone managed to identify one of the bodies. That seemed to break the spell, and the others were given names to go with the faces. A grand funeral was staged in the center of the city, with the newly restored television cameras all around, as the ten were taken to the pyre, because of course island cities had no room to bury their dead.

Later, watching in the crowd, I encountered one of the people who had known them personally. She had been young when the attacks had started, only fourteen, and now she was almost thirty and had just witnessed the funeral of her best friend.

"You're Osaka Naru, right?"

She nodded mechanically. While it wasn't widely broadcast, a few people had realized she was the one who had made the connection between the seemingly normal Tsukino Usagi and Sailor Moon herself by dint of her having been the last to leave the morgue.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"It's just…" I hesitated. "There was this song I heard. It talked about a city falling into the sea, and that it meant the angels' work was finally done. I know it's hard, but it makes it seem a little easier if you think they get a chance to rest now, right?"

"Are you calling them angels?" she asked, finally turning to face me.

I didn't bother to tell her that I'd known them in my own way, from the opposite side of the battlefield in the very early days of the Sailor Wars. "Yeah. Weren't they? The Senshi fought for us through all the most awful things imaginable, and now they're done. They're free, and hopefully they'll never have to go to war again."

"That's a nice way to think of it." She looked back at the pyre, now little more than wisps of smoke and bits of wood. "She was married, you know. Usagi. To him. And Uranus and Neptune were a couple. The others died alone."

"They were together."

"You know what I mean."

I nodded, because I did understand. No one had come forward about any sort of romantic involvement with the others. They had, in the end, been soldiers more than normal people, putting their prince and princess ahead of everything else. My own awkward overtures had been rebuffed automatically. She said that she didn't need a man when she had to be more. The others had heard the same, albeit with less kindness. My love had always been the gentlest soul.

She sighed. "What will we do if something else happens?"

"We pray for new angels," I responded. It was a lie, to an extent, but not a big one since telling the truth would reveal more than was allowed.

"Zoisite," a stern voice called behind me.

My three brothers were standing a ways away, having elected me to speak with her while they dealt with others similarly hurt by the passing of ones they loved. I'd been slow to do the same, not sure what to say to a girl I'd nearly killed all those years ago.

I gave her a quick bow and one last offer of my condolences as I withdrew, hurrying to them. We formed a loose ring automatically.

"The prince is gone," Nephrite said, "and our vows with him."

Kunzite shook his head. "We will not dishonor his memory so. There is no guarantee that the fighting will return to this world, but if it does we will be the only ones who can stand to meet it. Rather than old promises, we must face any threats to make amends for what our actions nearly cost this world already."

"We were already forgiven for all of that," Jadeite objected. It wasn't that he had a problem with taking up the Senshi's mantle. He just liked arguing; it was reflexive. And easier than dealing with the grief we all had to carry now.

"We are not Senshi," I said quietly. "We could easily be outmatched."

"Then pray the angels are watching over us," our leader countered. I knew then he had heard what I told Naru. "We will put forth our best efforts. They would expect nothing less."

Instead of praying that they were watching, I decided to wish for something else. I wanted what I'd said to be true. They deserved to be free.

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AN: I'm not even sure how to categorize this. Still, please let me know what you think. Till next time!


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